PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) – Community members of a Pine Ridge Mobile Park area are calling for action after a 16-year-old male was shot and killed Friday night.
The Prince George County Police Department said officers responded to the 8000 block of Swift Street at 7:10 p.m.
When they arrived on scene, police said they found the teen with a gunshot wound, while later in the evening, Prince George County Fire and EMS pronounced the minor’s death at the scene.
Ashley Walker lives a few doors down from the park where the tragic incident occurred, and said this should have never happened and that she cannot believes she’s experiencing community violence yet again after moving previously due to violence.
“This should be a neighborhood where the kids can come out and play safely and the parents feel safe about letting them come out,” Walker said. “We came from a bad area in Niagara Falls, New York. We escaped that to have a better life and here we are again.”
Other residents in the area agreed to speak with 8News, but asked to remain anonymous.
One neighbor said the violence has gone on for two long and believes it is best to move out of the area.
“It’s not only the money that we pay, it’s that when we first got here it was so quiet, then it turned into… we’re on the news, like every other day.”
Continuing to look at the violence he’s seen in recent generations, he said he is saddened for his children.
“Sadly, it makes me not regret, but sad that I brought them into a world that’s gotten this disrespectful that kids are shooting kids now,” the neighbor said.
Another woman wished to remain unidentified as well and said she received a phone call about the incident from her daughter who was home at the time of the shooting.
“When I tried to come into the community, everything was blocked off and I [was] trying to ask everybody what happened and all of a sudden they said, ‘there was a young boy that was shot,” she said.
“The first thing that came to mind… I thought it was my son,” the woman said.
Neighbors are calling on their property owners to instill greater security for the park with additional personnel to address the trauma children and families face when incidents like these continue to occur.
Authorities have confirmed that two arrests have been made in connection to Friday night’s shooting incident.
A 16-year-old juvenile faces second-degree murder, possession of a firearm under 18 and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Je’Juan Darren White, 19, has been charged with accessory after the fact, armed robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and carrying a concealed weapon.
Both who have been charged remain in custody.
